Fangraphs Releases Top 18 Mets Prospects

On Monday, Fangraphs unveiled their rankings of the top 18 Mets prospects.

While there were certainly some surprises on the list, it remains similar to other Mets prospects’ rankings. Although the system has undoubtedly seen brighter days, there are some intriguing names in the organization who could turn out to be solid everyday players.

The southpaw was recently drafted out of the University of Oregon, where he broke the school’s record for strikeouts in a game. Ranking Peterson high is not shocking, but listing him above Andres Gimenez certainly rose some eyebrows.

The teenager is regarded by many as the team’s brightest star. Gimenez fared well in Single-A last year and could end 2018 in Double-A as a 20-year-old. He already has a sweet swing and great defensive instincts. As he matures, he should be able to tap into his full offensive potential.

An intriguing pick by Fangraphs was the decision to tab backstop Tomas Nido as the third-best prospect in the pipeline. After a promising 2016 where he hit at a .320/.357/.459 clip, Nido’s BABIP fell back to earth last year and he only slashed .232/287/.354.

Ranked fifth, Justin Dunn turned in an awful 2017 season, casting doubts if he’ll ever have the stamina to be an successful starter. That being said, his stuff would certainly work well in the bullpen and he could end up being a dominant reliever.

I’ll admit, I was very puzzled when I saw Peter Alonso ranked seventh. Alonso certainly made a name for himself in 2017, finally tapping into his raw power and showing that he could be a quality major league player. MMO recently ranked Alonso as the third-best minor-leaguer in the Mets system.

A pair of close-to-MLB-ready starters, Chris Flexen and Marcos Molina, just missed the top 10, ranking 11th and 12th, respectively.

The Mets 2017 fourth rounder, Tony Dibrell, was ranked No. 13. Dibrell bombed in his first pro campaign so it’s bit shocking to see him this high. But Fangraphs adored his changeup, which they predict to be a future 60 grade.

Cecchini worked hard during the offseason to revamp his swing and impressed scouts in Spring Training. Callahan was supposed to be the closest MLB-ready piece acquired in the Addison Reed trade, but didn’t fare well in his brief time in the majors.

These selections were pretty strange considering other, and arguably, better prospects were excluded from this list. Corey Oswalt, who’s arguably the most MLB-ready starter in the pipeline, and Tyler Bashlor, who owns one of the best fastballs in the minors, did not make an appearance.

Carson Cistulli listed David Thompson as a player to keep an eye on. Cistulli believes that Thompson’s combination of a low strikeout rate and an improving walk rate bodes well for Major-League success.

Fangraphs’s article ended with this warning:

“Every pitcher who appears within the main section of the list and who has been in the organization for over a year has needed Tommy John, and the injury issues the Mets have experienced at the big-league level are well documented.”

Injuries are nothing new for the big-league club and the injury bug has apparently spread to the minor-league level. Highly-regarded prospects such as Thomas Szapucki and Jordan Humphreys will be forced to miss the upcoming season with that operation and Anthony Kay has lost a significant amount of his development recovering from that same procedure. It’ll be interesting to see if Dunn can avoid that surgery in the future.

If the Mets prospects can stay healthy during the 2018 season, this system should be able to finally move back to respectability.

Hey everyone, my name's Matt Mancuso and I'm currently studying business at TCNJ. I've been covering the Mets minor-league system for MMN and MMO for the last year. Follow me on at https://twitter.com/Cuso__.